Mind-Wandering Predicts Unhappiness

What you pay attention to matters more than what happens to you. A Harvard study that pinged people randomly throughout the day found that mind-wandering predicted unhappiness more reliably than any external circumstance.

People were happiest when their attention was fully engaged with their current activity — even if that activity was mundane. Commuting while mentally present was more satisfying than vacationing while mentally elsewhere. Presence, not circumstance, set the mood.